Man pleads no contest to charges of trying to get model wife killed

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A businessman accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill his model wife pleaded no contest Friday as part of a deal from prosecutors.

Dino Guglielmelli has been behind bars for eight months for attempting to hire friend and business associate Richard Fuhrmann to kill his then-wife Monica Andreny, a model who once walked the runway for top designers.

The deal reduced the charge from first to second-degree attempted murder. He now faces a maximum sentence of nine years. If his trial led to a conviction, he could have faced a life sentence.

"We actually had a very strong case and were looking forward to going to trial but this, in the end, served the interest of justice," said prosecutor Emily Cole.

"I think the deal, the reduction in charge from a life sentence to nine years, was something that we couldn't refuse. I think there would be a risk going to trial," said defense attorney Anthony Brooklier.

Guglielmelli and Andreny married in 2004. They had been locked in a bitter divorce and had fought over money and custody of their children. During the nearly year-long plot, Guglielmelli had no idea that Fuhrmann was working with authorities and recording their numerous conversations. In one of the tapes, the two men discuss an $80,000 payment for carrying out the murder. Those tapes would have been played for a jury in a trial.

"Sometimes people do things during the course of a divorce, with all the emotions and they say things maybe they don't mean, but once you say them, especially on tape, that can be a problem," said Brooklier.

Prosecutors said Andreny was satisfied with the deal, and she wants to move on with life.

Andreny issued a statement to Eyewitness News.

"This is the kind of stuff you read about daily in the news, the stuff happens to other people. It hasn't sunk in properly that it's me they are talking about," she said, in part.

After his arrest last October, Guglielmelli's once thriving company in Valencia went into bankruptcy.

Guglielmelli, a 52-year-old Canyon Country resident, is a once-successful businessman who made millions in the nutrition supplement industry. He is expected to be formally sentenced in court next week.